Portraits of Devastation: Japan After the Tsunami

In his journey through towns devastated by the Japanese tsunami, PM contributor Carl Hoffman traveled with photographer Peter Blakely, who captured the incredible destruction and search-and-rescue efforts. These images come from towns like Rikuzentakata, which were leveled by the waves and may or may not be rebuilt.

Portraits of Devastation: Japan After the Tsunami

Portraits of Devastation: Japan After the Tsunami

Collecting belongings in Rikuzentakata, more than four miles from the sea at the upper limits of where a 60-foot-tall wall of water poured in and roared up a river valley. Buildings throughout Japan employ technology to isolate structures from the ground, and the country is so earthquake-conscious that developers and real estate agents boast of their earthquake-proof buildings as an advertising lure. Indeed, the earthquake itself did little damage. But the tsunami it spawned destroyed 3600 houses in the city and left 28,000 dead and missing in the country.

The view heading into Rikuzentakata. Previously a city of 26,000, it was wiped out by the tsunami. Almost every coastal city had seawalls, sometimes double lines of them and some as high as 36 feet. Nevertheless, every one was inundated, some toppled like children's dominoes. It’s a surreal sight: Above the floodwaters is perfect, untouched, while everything else is simply gone.